From our previous article, it is clear that abortion is killing of a living human being, even if they are not born yet. Now, what is the opinion of the Bible in abortion?

From all the Biblical texts we saw in the previous article, it is clear that the human life is precious from the womb, and God works in human's life even before their birth.

The Sacred Gift of life:  

The first period of Christ’s life on earth, starting from His birth in Bethlehem and ending by His living in Nazareth, was full of a successive group of events. In this article, I shall try to arrange these events  from the Gospels of Luke 2 and Mathew 2  in chronological order by making use of some incidents proven in history.

Christ, in the flesh, lived on earth for thirty three and a half years, and in the last three and a half years of this period He ministered by teaching, healing the sick, preaching the kingdom of God, and fulfilling salvation by His death, resurrection, and ascension to heaven. Throughout this period He was accompanied by His disciples, who were eyewitnesses to all the previously mentioned aspects of His ministries. The questions that we need to raise here are: How did those disciples perceive Him? Did they see Him as God incarnate during the period of His ministry? Did they think of Him as He truly is, fully divine and fully human in a perfect unity?

During the fourth week of Kiahk, the church readings pertain to the birth of John the Baptist.  For this reason, I have selected some excerpts from the early church fathers to celebrate the life of this great saint.

In the previous article, I mentioned several specific instances from the life and teachings of our Lord Jesus which promote the importance and necessity of keeping vigils. In this article, I would like to share with you some stories about the vigils of our church fathers and discuss how we can practice and benefit from vigil in our personal prayer life. 

The Coptic month of Kiahk is characterized by extended versions of the midnight psalmody called “Seven and Four” (saaba wa arbaa in Arabic) which refer to the four canticles and seven Theotokias (i.e. hymns relating to St. Mary). During this month, children are excited to spend the night at church and adults are eager to chant some of their favorite hymns of year. I am astonished every year by those who brave the cold weather and long hours of this midnight vigil out of their desire to praise our awesome God and the beautiful Theotokos St. Mary.   As we prepare to celebrate the glorious Nativity of our Lord Jesus Christ, I would like to share a few encouraging thoughts regarding the importance and necessity of keeping vigils. 

Purity is the light of our eyes and the garment of our betrothal to our heavenly Bridegroom, our sweet Lord Jesus.   We have to be sure my brethren, that if we desire the life of purity, God will grant it to us.

+ Icons are not just religious portrayal as a means to awaken feelings, but they are also a way through which God is revealed to men. Through icon, we visualize the spiritual world.

Last Sunday, November 20th was the last prayer for the Bethel congregation in their church building before leaving to join another Lutheran Church in Palatine. They invited us to come and join them, so they could pray for us and officially pass on the church to us. We prayed an early liturgy in St. Mary's as we announced before, and went to join them at 10 am.

The words “confess” or “confession” are words commonly found in the Bible and in our prayers. These words can have different meanings depending on the context, so it is worthwhile for us to review these different meanings together: